Fairytale of New York
by Nanaki Lioness
Summary: AU ItaShi, written for an ItaShi exchange at Livejournal. There isn't much that could be considered a fairy tale about Itachi and Shisui, but New York city helps them try.


Disclaimer: The characters, items, places etc of Naruto are property of Masashi Kishimoto. These objects are used without permission for entertainment only, not for making money. No infringement is intended.

_I signed up to the ItaShi Livejournal exchange and was given Quillslinger. After promptly dying inside at the thought of writing for someone SO FREAKING GOOD, I decided to just get on with it and see what happened._

_This is written in first person. When there is a break it switches narrator, but that should be apparent considering the style of inner monologue changes between Itachi and Shisui. Obviously since this is an ItaShi exchange it has __**Itachi and Shisui in a homosexual relationship**__, and since it's based in New York it is obviously __**AU**__._

**Fairytale of New York**

By Nanaki Lioness

Winter in New York is icy cold and majestic, as it always is. I wrap my coat around myself as I walk the streets briskly, dark eyes straying to my surroundings as I do so. Times Square is lively even at this early hour, but I don't take the sights in. I've lived in Manhattan for the last few years now and am now used to the tourist attraction that is my city. It's not hard to spot foreigners- they wear bright colours and smile, waving cameras and pleasantries around at people who don't have the time to care. They take photograph and movies, waving animatedly at the camera and pointing excitedly to my everyday sights and sounds.

I couldn't imagine living anywhere else these days as I walk through the streets and try not to slip on the ice. People do this frequently because they are careless and don't watch their step, whereas I've always been too careful to fall into this trap. Of course merely thinking this thought backfires on me, because two steps later I find myself skidding awkwardly and meeting the floor sideways in a display of inelegance and idiocy.

It is only eight thirty am and I already want to return to the warmth of my bed. No-one stops to help me, but then again no-one laughs either. This is New York- everyone has an agenda to fill and they don't have time to stop for anyone else. The only people who look in my direction are the tourists, though thankfully the bustle and life of Manhattan soon draws their attention away.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh about the city goers. It's difficult to find time in your average day to function for yourself, let alone others. Either way I'm smarting both mentally and physically as I pull myself to my feet and set off on my way again. I'm trying to pretend nothing has happened, but the throbbing ache in my hipbone tells me otherwise.

"Itachi!"

I see someone ahead of me running through the throngs of people towards me. I smile instinctively- I already know who it is, and his presence is welcomed. I just hope he didn't see me fall else I'll never hear the end of it.

"I saw that," Shisui says the moment he's at my side, his hand immediately extending and resting on my hipbone. He strokes it lightly, soothingly, and frowns in disapproval. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I reply, thankful he isn't laughing at me. His hand lingers on my hipbone regardless, concern still evident in his eyes. "Are you on your way home?"

"I was until I saw you," he whispers, giving me a smile that could be construed as seductive. "I needed to make sure you were alright. I'm your knight in shining armour, aren't I?"

"Hardly," I laugh, raising an eyebrow at him. "You're my cousin and you're slightly insane."

"I'm your boyfriend and you love it," he coos, his voice sending shivers down my spine. I never admit out loud what we really are to each other- not because I'm ashamed, but because the rest of our family would probably disown us. I've conditioned myself never to call him my partner so I can never slip up in front of my father.

Cousins can marry in New York City. This is what I tell myself as he continues to smile seductively, putting one hand to my chest and tracing one finger down slowly. His other hand is still on my hipbone. Around us, people continue to walk on by and pay us no heed. Cousins can marry and so cousins can date, and cousins can do the things I know Shisui is thinking right now.

It's not like we decided to fall for each other. He was my guide when I moved here with the rest of my family. We went from only knowing each other through letters to suddenly living in the same city, spending a lot of time together as he took me to all of his favourite places. Together we explored Times Square, walked countless times through Central Park and attempted to tan our pale skin at Brighton Beach. Together he taught me about his home, helping me transition from my life in the South into his world. Before I knew it I was in love.

That's probably a little dramatic. Actually I was infatuated, because that's the type of person I am. Of course I never said a word, because that's also the type of person I am. I suffer like a martyr and pretend everything's just fine, while inside all I want to do is scream that I loved him and I wanted him to love me too.

Shisui is full of colour. It's the only way I can describe him. The way he smiles, the way he _lives_- it's in shades of vivid hues. The way I live is in black and white. Together we make a more muted picture- he weaves his colour in my life and I weave my own sensibilities into his. Before I arrived he moved with the ways of the wind, drifting from job to party to apartment to bedroom as and when he chose. I grounded him, and he brought me to life.

"Itachi," Shisui prompts, waving a hand in front of my face. "I come on to you and you zone out. That's not very flattering is it?"

"I have to get to work," I tell him, putting one hand lightly on his chest and pushing him back. "I'll be back at five."

"I'll be leaving at eight."

"So we'll have three hours together. I'll see you then, Shisui."

His hand clasps mine and squeezes tightly before he lets go, leaving us to turn our backs on each other and walking in opposite directions. He's heading to our shared apartment and I'm heading to hospital we both work at. Tonight he'll be leaving for his nightshift. This is the life we lead now- barely entwined, occasionally meeting for a fleeting moment.

However we aren't the type of couple that can spend hour after hour with one another, curled up whispering sweet nothings to one another. We both need our own space- admittedly, working opposite hours to one another wasn't quite what either of us had in mind, but we do what we have to do. A job is a job, and we took what we could to keep us living in this beautiful city that helps breathe life into everything around it.

-x-x-

I have no idea how Itachi functions. No really, I have no idea. I guess that's what happens when you have Fugaku for a dad- you end up backwards and retarded. Not that I don't love him because I do, but sometimes I would love to just meld him to my wicked ways slightly. Sex with this man might as well come on a schedule, and that just isn't going to do.

He doesn't realise I'm trailing him because he's too busy, I don't know, thinking about world peace or some shit. It's no wonder he's completing a residency in medicine, though people don't believe I'm doing the same thing. I'm Shisui, and I'm an idiot. I can't possibly be a doctor, because that's for uptight and smart people like Itachi.

We work opposite shifts for two reasons. One is because a job is a job, as Itachi always says, and this is the reason he gives to people when asked. The other is because saving lives is rather more important than fucking each other's brains out in a janitor's closet. We distract each other when we work together. It's dangerous and unprofessional and while neither of us have screwed up because of it, neither of us will take the risk that we might somewhere down the line.

I have managed to score something resembling a sexual encounter with him once at work. We ended up alone in the staff room on a quick tea-break and of course, one thing led to another. I say this while pretending most of Itachi's first words _weren't_ 'no Shisui not here, _no_ Shisui', because when I successfully wore him down he couldn't say very much at all with his mouth full.

Itachi enters the hospital sliding doors about twenty minutes or so later and I enter not far behind him, ducking out of the way so another member of staff doesn't blow my cover. Once Itachi has vanished down the corridor I relax and saunter off to the staff room, ready to lie in wait. Three hours together this evening my ass. I'm fed up with living a separate life to my boyfriend.

It's still incredible that he agreed to date me. He was infatuated with me though- absolutely crazy despite the obvious barrier of us being related. This is what he gets for growing up in the South, because I hear that kind of thing is perfectly acceptable there by most. I don't know, and I don't really care either way if it is or isn't. The moment he said 'I like you' my lips were on his, because the first time I laid eyes on him I thought he was the most attractive person I'd ever seen. Living with him and getting to know him only made him more irresistible.

It's a couple of hours later when Itachi finally makes an appearance in the staff room. He looks harassed and hurried, but that soon melts away into shock when he notices I'm sitting on the sofa waving at him. He has his glasses on which means only one thing- he was tired and forgot his contacts this morning. This alone says to me that he is overworked and stressed, because I know him well enough to pick up on the little things that others don't.

"Not right now," he tells me firmly, before grabbing a stray clipboard he was apparently in search of and exiting again. I scowl at his back, though I know work is more important. That doesn't stop me wanting to follow him and lay my hands on his shoulders, running them lightly down the curve of his back and around his slight hips- alright, that's enough of that before I need to take a cold shower.

It seems my presence has sparked something in Itachi since he reappears twenty minutes later, standing in the doorway looking intrigued. "So go on," he says. "Tell me why you're here."

"I miss you," I say. It's true, but since this is Itachi he simply sighs and raises an eyebrow at me in question. "I do! I wanted to see you." I want to add 'all of you, every bit' but I don't think he'd appreciate that so early in this conversation. I do have some restraint, and some common sense too if I want to get some.

His expression softens and he walks across the room, sitting down next to me and giving me a smile. Any other person might have hugged but no, not Itachi. I could be dying of Lack of Physical Contact where only a hug could save me, and even then he'd hesitate. And yes, that's a real ailment- I'm a doctor, so don't question me!

"New York is expensive," Itachi explains. "We have to do this to afford-"

"That's bullshit and you know it," I cut in. "We do it so we don't fuck each other senseless at work. We have more than enough cash."

He turns scarlet, which is no surprise. You have to warm him up to make him comfortable before talking about naughty bits and ess-eee-eeks. "Must you be so crude?"

"Must you be so fucking square?" I counter, mocking his wording. "You know the last time we actually went out and _did_ something together was well over two months ago? We don't even get to share a bed together and forgive me for saying so, but it's been about as long since we screwed."

He falters at that. Success- I've cornered him. "We don't get much time, Shisui."

"Which is exactly why I want to change my roster," I conclude. "That's why I'm here." Well, mostly, but he doesn't need to know that. "I want to work the same hours as you. We're professionals- well, you are anyway, so we'll get by."

I don't want to give him a chance to argue by seeking our boss out, but I also want to push him onto this sofa and have my wicked way with him. He must be able to read my mind because suddenly he's scowling at me and standing up to leave.

"I'm offended," he says, in a tone that indicates as such. Great, here comes the lecture to kill my mood. "Are you really insinuating you want to change your roster so we can- can- have more _intimate_ moments?"

He pretends he didn't stutter, which causes me to smirk inappropriately. He slams the door behind him in response. I should have realised he'd be annoyed about this, because I've waltzed in and reminded him that he _is_ in a relationship with me and sometimes I'd like to fucking _feel_ like it too. He avoids and he pretends because it makes him feel like he's not lying to Daddy Dearest when he calls and asks how things are, when he's going to marry, when he's going to settle down into a boring little life with a boring little wife and produce boring little grandchildren with freakishly high IQs.

Oh well. I'll go speak to Tsunade, go home and lie in wait. He'll have calmed down before he comes home.

-x-x-

I am professional so I'm able to set aside our quarrel, but every spare moment I have I find my mind straying back to Shisui. I probably shouldn't, because it angers me all over again. There is nothing wrong with how we live. Unfortunately it leaves us without much time for one another, but that _works_ for us. If I get home and find he's changed his hours anyway I will not be impressed.

Shisui thinks I have a complex about our relationship, and he'd be right. Of course I have a complex- he's my cousin. I know it's legal here but that's irrelevant- in my father's eyes it would be abhorrent, and I'm not entirely sold on the idea that I should be doing it in the first place. Unfortunately Shisui is completely irresistible and capable of making me forget about that detail, in ways that shame me and my weak resolve. I've never been so attracted to a person before- the messy curls, the radiant smile, the way he gives me a tiny grin that means he wants to 'corrupt' me, as he says.

I'm still going to be angry if he's changed it. Though, if I'm completely honest with myself, I'm going to be angry because he's making me confront our relationship. Right now we're more like best friends or, dare I say, cousins. We aren't really partners. I'm not surprised he's become upset with the idea.

I take my walk home slowly, in order to help my anger dissipate. The weather is giving me cause for concern, allowing me a distraction that helps reset my mood. Stinging hail cascades to the floor around me along with torrential rain, while humid air that can only signal a storm threatens to choke me. Overhead dark clouds circle, and by the time I actually reach my front door I can hear thunder. However it isn't the most important thing on my mind at that moment- instead, Shisui is. This feeling is amplified when I walk in to find him completely naked on the sofa eating strawberries. Why? _Why_?

"Good afternoon," he greets while licking strawberry juice seductively from his fingers. "You like strawberries, don't you?"

There is a small part of my mind screaming at me to say 'why yes, I do and I'd rather like to share them with you while you do unthinkable things to me' but I have restraint. I leave this ideal as merely a thought.

"Did you change your hours?" I ask instead.

"Yup," Shisui confirms airily. "I'm free tonight."

"I'm surprised Tsunade did it so quickly."

"My hours change from next week," he corrects with a shrug. "I just told Tsunade the truth."

"The truth?" I echo, in the vague hope that he's now going to explain that he _didn't_ just tell our boss about our relationship.

"The truth," he confirms. "I told her I don't get to see you much these days and fancied spending some time with you, and she let me take a holiday day. Don't worry your pretty little head, Itachi! I didn't tell her about our relationship, but to be fair it isn't much of a relationship right now."

He takes another strawberry from the box, nibbling on it in a way that makes my cheeks burn. He knows exactly how to tease me.

"So this evening," he says around a mouthful of strawberry. "We're going to have dinner together and hopefully have loads of sex to make up for the lack of it to now."

"Stop emphasising that," I hiss at him, mostly out of embarrassment. He just smirks in response. I now realise why he drifted from bed to bed before I came here- I can't imagine him ever being truly satisfied. Though to be fair on him, he stopped shortly after I came to live with him, which he says was because he suddenly felt bad about it.

"Shame," Shisui muses as he holds out a strawberry for me. "Here was me thinking you might enjoy some strawberries and cream. You know I got cream, right? It's in the fridge."

It isn't fair that he targets my sweet tooth whenever he wants something. Before I know it I'm heading to retrieve the aforementioned cream, which is in a convenient spray tin. If he thinks I'm going to eat strawberries and cream from some obscene area of his body he is mistaken though.

Much to Shisui's visible disgust, my attention is immediately turned to something a little more important than my partner's sex drive. My NOAA radio, which rests on the mantelpiece, is issuing a weather warning for us. I grew up in Louisiana which is known for its horrific extreme weather, as well as being part of Tornado Alley so the radio has been a literal lifeline for me. Shisui rolls his eyes when I head across the room to turn it up.

"Oh no, we're having a bit of rain," he says patronisingly. "That doesn't stop you eating strawberries off-"

"Be quiet," I say commandingly. I rarely use that tone of voice and it quiets my partner immediately. "It's a tornado warning. Come."

"What?" He asks, clearly unsure what I mean. He does the most ridiculous thing in such situations, which is going straight to the window in an attempt to, presumably, see a tornado sitting nicely outside the window for him to admire. How cute. He doesn't realise such behaviour could get him killed.

"Haven't you ever experienced a tornado warning?" I ask sharply.

"No," he says musingly, scanning the landscape and not turning my way. "We don't really get them- that's more your thing isn't it, Southern boy?"

I had a suspicion that he didn't own a NOAA radio before I moved in with him, and now he has confirmed it. Contrary to his belief New York does experience tornadoes, though generally not as frequently as I am accustomed to. Perhaps I am hyper-vigilant considering where I grew up, but either way he needs to get away from the window.

"The tornado, if it comes, isn't going to sit around and let you admire it through the window," I explain brusquely. "Come with me to the basement."

"That sounds kind of kinky," he leers as he gathers his clothes together and begins to dress. "Do you have some kind of sex dungeon down there I don't know about?"

"Could you stop thinking with your sexual organs and _listen_?" I hiss. "In the event of a tornado warning, you are supposed to immediately retreat to your basement or the innermost room of your house. You keep away from windows, since if the tornado does approach you'll become a rather fetching glass catcher."

"Do you have to be so dramatic?" He says in a tone that borders whining, but he follows me down into the basement regardless.

"Forgive me," I say, allowing my voice to be condescending in a hope I manage to convey how I feel accurately. "Have you ever actually seen a tornado before?"

"Not for real, no."

"Exactly. I have, and therefore it would be prudent for you to be quiet and listen to me."

He finally seems to take me seriously, issuing no complaints when I bolt the door behind us and flick the light on. The basement, like most rooms of its kind, is slightly dingy and littered with cobwebs. As if to portray this fact a spider skitters across the room and out of sight once the light comes on. Even down here without a roof I can hear the patter of rain outside, though it is more muted.

"I suppose this gives us a chance to talk," Shisui points out as we settle on the dusty floor together. "Why are you so pissed about me changing my work hours?"

"Because you've made it quite clear you're doing it so you can have your way with me more often," I tell him, my voice clipped and making it apparent I am unhappy about this turn of events.

"No, I've made it quite clear I'm doing it because seeing you for three hours a day, if that, isn't much of a relationship. The extra sex we could have is just a bonus." He looks serious for a moment, which is unusual. I usually only see that face on him at work, in the times we used to work together. As much as he would like to believe we had to stop working together because otherwise we would be unrestrained around one another, that is untrue. Just like that time he molested me in the staff room- he likes to that was a mutual lust that overflowed in the work place like some kind of bad soap opera. He really is deluded sometimes.

"Look, Itachi," he says quietly. "I'm fed up, alright? We get three hours together a day. We can't share a bed together and even our days off are different. We get to eat one meal together. It's not about the sex- it's about the lack of _relationship_."

"I'm listening," I concede quietly. Perhaps he does have a point.

-x-x-

Itachi finally looks like he's going to listen to me. Admittedly, hiding in the basement from a twirling cyclone of doom wasn't quite how I planned this conversation, but beggars can't be choosers.

"I've changed my hours so we're going to get more time together," I conclude. "This means I want to see more of you, alright? I'll keep things professional at work, don't worry."

"Fine," he sighs heavily. "But I don't trust that you're not going to stalk me, waiting for a prime moment to drag me into a closet and have your way with me."

"That's more your territory," I grin, which shuts him up. I've never let his fascination with me drop. That said, he became quite obvious about it which is how I ended up kissing him in the first place. Sure, he isn't the type to accost me and drag me off for sex in a dark broom closet, but I imagine given the time he would have out of sheer desperation.

That said, perhaps that's debatable. I swear that sometimes he doesn't have a sex drive. They say the average man thinks of sex every six seconds, but Itachi isn't the average man. You're more likely to catch him working out mathematical formulas or something equally dreary instead.

"So what was the tornado you saw like?" I ask, wishing to change the topic before it can become any more serious. I don't want him to clam up completely, because if we're going to be stuck down in this fucking horrible basement together I'd rather have him as half-decent company.

"Which one?" He shrugs, looking like it isn't a big deal. I suppose since he's had to ask such a question that would indicate he's used to it. "They look like tornadoes, Shisui. What else am I supposed to say?"

"Were they those huge ones that basically suck up entire cities?"

"Thankfully not. I don't want to talk about this."

He's sealed off this topic of conversation, which leads me straight back to the original one. "I was hoping we could go out tonight. You know, on a date or something," I sigh.

"Mm," he murmurs, and I realise I've already lost him for conversation. He's eyeing the NOAA radio he brought down with him, as if waiting for further news. He probably wants to hear when the warning is lifted so we can go back upstairs and part ways again, like the cousins we are. The thought infuriates me, spurring me to do something about it. I shift so I'm kneeling in front of him, putting my hands around his neck lightly before leaning in for a kiss. He doesn't push me off, but when my lips trail down the curve of his neck to his collar bone he flinches and pulls away.

"It's just a fucking kiss!" I explode at him angrily. He did exactly what I fucking expected. "I'm not trying to seduce you- I'm just kissing you because I love you! _God_, you piss me off sometimes. You always act like some kind of limp rag doll, or that I'm doing something wrong. You've always been that way and I've had enough of it!"

"I don't know how to do anything else," he hisses at me, cheeks slightly scarlet in either shame or mortification. Perhaps both. "I know how to save lives and diagnose people with horrific things that will eventually kill them. I know how to make my father happy. I _don't_ know how to be a decent boyfriend."

Finally, the truth hits the light of day. My anger drains away and is replaced by pity, which I quickly sweep aside since he won't appreciate that at all. It seems even the people who have their heads straight can have inferiority complexes too. "The answer is easy- stop trying to avoid me, speak your mind about what you do and don't want and let the relationship guide itself. You don't have to manually guide it, you know."

"I would rather not have you and your overactive genitals as navigator, thank you."

It takes me a second to realise he just made a joke. A _real_ joke, that causes me to laugh and smile like an idiot. "Have you even told your Dad what's going on between us?" I ask, seizing the opportunity since I'll probably never get the chance to ask such a question again.

"No," he admits softly. "But I will, Shisui. I promise you."

"You'd better do," I warn him. "Now when is this fucking tornado going to appear or dissipate or whatever it wants so we can get out of here? I swear that spider in the corner is the size of a large rabbit."

"When it's ready. I haven't heard any further updates."

"So we could be stuck down here for hours?"

"Is that so bad?" He says, with the faintest of smiles on his lips. "At least we have each other for company, right?"

"Right," I intone flatly. "Along with the spiders and the tornado that might come knocking, and the-"

He silences me with a kiss. The act coming from him confuses me for a moment, leaving my lips wide open like a fish before my brain catches up and I sink into it thankfully. He rests his hands on my hipbones while I snake a hand around his neck, capturing his lips gladly once more. I could cry with joy when he actually returns the sentiment with more enthusiasm than I've ever experienced with him before.

"Does that mean we can...?" I ask, allowing my sentence to go unfinished. My smirk and the smouldering look in my eyes says everything I was going to say. Itachi smirks back and looks contemplative, nervous almost, before he seemingly brushes it aside and blinks. When he opens his dark eyes they've changed, now alight with passion and lust I didn't know existed.

"I suppose," he relents. "But I need to turn the radio up. We need to hear any further warnings."

All I want to do right now is smash the fucking radio, but that could result in a tornado smashing my house instead. Instead I let him have his way, because by doing so he lets me have mine.

-x-x-

Afterglow is supposed to be some kind of mildly catatonic state of stupor, but I've never experienced it until now. I suppose that's probably because up to now I've been performing out of duty, and not from just simply letting my inhibitions go. If I were in my normal state of mind I might be mortified of the idea of lying naked on a grimy basement floor, but as it stands I don't have the capacity to care.

Shisui looks like the cat that got the cream, which I suppose he now is, throwing my shirt over me in a half-hearted attempt to preserve my modesty. "So how long do these warnings usually last?"

"A few hours," I murmur. "Sometimes the tornado doesn't even form."

"Can I go and check if it's around?"

"Do you _really_ want to do that?"

"Yes," he says excitedly. He really does fail to see the possible danger here. "Can I?"

"No."

He deflates and folds his arms, looking moments from pouting. It shouldn't be as endearing as it is. I finally pull myself up and get dressed, then attempt a spot of cleaning- I admit, I usually don't bother with this room, but since we're here I might as well. Shisui looks at me like I'm crazy, but that's alright. I'm used to such things.

He manages to stay quiet until I'm about halfway done sweeping cobwebs from the ceiling with a stick, which is a feat considering I estimate about three quarters of an hour to have passed. "I'm hungry," he finally whines. I don't even look in his direction, so he continues. "And I'm so _bored_. Seriously, can't we just go up and come back down if we see the tornado?"

"It doesn't quite work that way, Shisui," I begin, preparing to give him an explanation about how if you can see a tornado it's probably too late to get to cover, but the radio distracts me. Shisui glances to it as well, hope in his eyes. It seems we're in luck, since the warning has been lifted for our area. Shisui is already at the top of the basement stairs with a grin on his face at these words, beckoning to me.

"The warning could come back into effect," I warn him as I head up the stairs. "The weather is still atrocious."

"Yeah, yeah," he says dismissively. Typical. "We'll keep your radio on. Don't you want something to eat? You've been at work all day."

It goes without saying their neither of us get much of a chance to eat when we're on shift. Trauma and lives don't wait for lunch breaks. "That would be nice."

"I'll cook," he offers, and I don't deny him. Shisui is actually a remarkable cook, when he bothers and doesn't just default to microwave meals or getting me to do it. However we get as far as the hallway before his small pager buzzes shrilly, causing him to frown as he pulls it from his pocket.

"Are you on call?" I ask, a little confused since I thought he had the evening off.

"Tsunade said I could have the evening off but I'd be on call 'just in case'," Shisui explains as he reads the screen. "It seems your tornado did appear. It's done some damage and I have to go in, apparently. There's a few walking wounded and people in shock to be dealt with, she says. They're getting under everyone's feet and there's some serious injuries coming in."

One of the things about being a doctor is that you soon speak about people and lives in such a detached manner, categorising people in terms of trauma inflicted because that's the only way to do our job. Of course, that doesn't stop the annoyed parent that's been waiting in A&E for six hours because their first born has a grazed knee from kicking up a fuss when we don't see them right away, as well as handing them a hefty bill at the end. However, that is another matter entirely.

Shisui is halfway to the front door when his pager beeps again. He glances at it and smirks, glancing up at me. "She's asking if I can get hold of you too. She needs all the help she can get, apparently."

I've already been working all day and I know if I enter that hospital I'm not going to leave until tomorrow morning, but regardless I fetch my coat and follow Shisui out into the rain. My mind is so set on the job that I am startled when Shisui threads his hand slowly into mine as we walk, giving me a soft smile.

"You know I love that about you," he muses unhelpfully.

"What do you mean?"

"Your commitment," he clarifies.

"If I didn't do what I do, people could suffer," I explain. "I don't want that."

"Of course you don't," he murmurs as he squeezes me hand. "That's just who you are."

"You're the same," I point out. Shisui considers this for a moment before nodding, finally letting my hand go.

"I suppose," he relents, but his eyes sparkle with a fire that exists purely for his job. I can't help but smile, reminded immediately of why I fell for him. Even when I lived in Louisiana and was first training, we bonded over our mutual career interest over letters. Coming face to face with him and seeing just how passionate he is was simply the icing on the cake. It times like now that I don't care that he's my cousin, and I'm just glad that we're sharing this life together.

I am not sappy enough to say 'I love you' in such a conventional manner, but Shisui catches me smiling stupidly at him and smirks back at me in response. He knows what I'm feeling. He turns his attention forward with a small shake of his head, but there is a smile firmly on his lips. Despite the heavy rainfall around us and the wind that threatens to blow us off of our feet, we are both happy to be side by side in all aspects of our shared life.

-.-.-

_You were handsome / You were pretty / Queen of New York City / When the band finished playing they yelled out for more / Sinatra was swinging / All the drunks they were singing / We kissed on a corner / Then danced through the night_

-.-.-

_Author's Notes: No, I don't think the latter half of the song quoted above (The Pogue's Fairytale of New York, of course) has much to do with Itachi and Shisui. These guys need a happy ending sometimes!_

_I don't live in America, but I did lots of research. Hopefully I did well and didn't make any glaring mistakes. I even got on googlemaps- I do don't things by halves. I am also a bit of a storm enthusiastic, but I don't know much about NOAA radios- we don't really get extreme weather over here. The information I did find was vague, so hopefully what I've got here fits!_

_Thanks for reading!_


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